The relationship between scientists and government, both in the United States and in Europe, has become increasingly symbiotic in the years since World War II. Government grants, socialized medicine, and technologically sophisticated defense systems are only a few of the ways in which politics and science find themselves intertwined. This volume is a collection of original papers dealing with some of the several important aspects of scientists in the public sector. The first chapter, "Private Government and Professional Science" by Daniel Rich, with a foreword by Harvey M. Sapolsky, deals with the organization and functions of professional scientific associations. Rich sees these societies as private governments, providing institutional services and regulating the behavior of their members. Using this frame of reference, he explores the relationships of these societies to one another and to public government. Eugene Skolnikoff introduces Chapter 2, "American Scientists and the ABM: A Case Study in Controversy" by Anne Hessing Cahn, in which she examines the role of the scientists in a recent political controversy through interviews with 122 scientists active in the ABM issue. Chapter 3, "The Associational Interest Groups of American Science" by David Nichols, with a foreword by Robert C. Wood, discusses the range of political interest groups from "establishment" to "radical" existing within the American scientific community. The political attitudes of 320 scientists and engineers from Europe's three largest international laboratories (CERN, ESTEC, and EURATOM/ISPRA) are studied in Chapter 4, "Politics and International Laboratories: A Study of Scientists' Attitudes" by Albert H. Teich, with a foreword by I. I. Rabi. Finally, Chapter 5, "The Politics of Cybernetics in the Soviet Union" by R. David Gillespie, with a foreword by Daniel Lerner, examines the controversy over adoption of this technology in the post-Stalin era. A postface by Eugene B. Skolnikoff, "Science and Public Policy: A View from MIT," traces the history of MIT's program in science and public policy, from which all of the studies in this book emerged. Those interested in either political science or scientific politics will find this a valuable resource.
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Albert H. Teich has served as Director of Science and Policy Programs at the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1990. In this position, he is responsible for the association's activities in science, technology, society, and policy and serves as its chief spokesperson on science policy issues. Dr. Teich received a B.S. degree in physics and a Ph.D. in political science, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining the AAAS staff in 1980, he held positions at George Washington University, the State University of New York, and Syracuse University. Dr. Teich is well known as a speaker on science and technology policy and is the author of numerous articles, reports, and book chapters. He is chair of the Advisory Board of the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, and a member of the advisory boards of Columbia University's Center for Science, Policy, and Outcomes, and the Loka Institute. In addition, he is co-director of a new Center for Innovation Policy Research and Education in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Teich is a Fellow of AAAS and a member of the editorial advisory boards to the journals SCIENCE COMMUNICATION, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND HUMAN VALUES, and PROMETHEUS, as well as a consultant to government agencies, national laboratories, industrial firms, and international organizations.
